HSC Spanish Beginners (NSW) cheat sheet

The listening section is played twice; the first play is for global meaning, the second for specific detail.

Questions in Spanish are printed in Spanish; answer in Spanish unless the rubric explicitly permits English.

Listen for discourse markers (bueno, entonces, pues, por eso, sin embargo) that signal a change of topic or a contrast.

Numbers, times, prices and dates are common targets: train times, opening hours, phone numbers, prices in euros or pesos.

Distinguish register: tú/vosotros versus usted/ustedes signals the relationship between speakers and the formality of the situation.

Common text types: announcements, voicemail messages, dialogues in shops, school notices, weather and travel reports.

Key tense cues: voy a + infinitive (future plan), acabo de + infinitive (just done), estaba + gerund (past ongoing).

Negation and hedges (no creo que, quizás, casi nunca) frequently invert the expected answer.

Text types include emails, notices, advertisements, timetables, menus, blogs, short articles and brochures.

Skim for gist first (title, headings, first and last sentences), then scan for the specific detail each question names.

Cognates help (importante, teléfono) but false friends mislead: embarazada (pregnant), actualmente (currently), largo (long).

Question words direct the search: ¿dónde?, ¿cuándo?, ¿cuánto?, ¿quién?, ¿por qué?, ¿cómo?

Answers must match the text, not general knowledge: if the text says cerrado los lunes, do not answer that it opens Monday.

Recognise formulaic openings and closings: Estimado/a señor/a, Querido/a, Un saludo, Atentamente, Nos vemos pronto.

Infer meaning of unknown words from context, word family and morphology (-ción, -dad, -mente, prefixes re-, des-).

Watch for synonyms between text and question: barato/económico, gratis/sin coste, cerca/a poca distancia.

The writing task specifies text type, audience, purpose and word count; all four must be satisfied.

Typical text types: note, email, postcard, letter, diary entry, short article, blog post, message to a friend.

Open and close appropriately: informal (Hola, ¿qué tal? / Un abrazo) versus formal (Estimado señor / Atentamente).

Plan with a checklist of required content points; missing a bullet costs more than a grammar slip.

Connectives raise coherence: además, sin embargo, por eso, primero, luego, finalmente, aunque.

Use a range of tenses where the task invites it: present, preterite, near future (ir a + inf.), and perfect.

Accents change meaning and are marked: si/sí, el/él, mas/más, esta/está, solo/sólo (traditional distinction).

Agreement errors are high-frequency: noun-adjective gender and number, subject-verb agreement, ser versus estar.

The speaking assessment typically includes a conversation with the teacher and/or a short prepared or semi-prepared talk.

Answer in full sentences and extend: give a reason (porque...), an example (por ejemplo...) or a contrast (pero...).

Prepare reusable stems: En mi opinión..., Creo que..., Me gusta porque..., El año pasado fui..., El próximo fin de semana voy a...

Use circumlocution when a word is missing: es una cosa que..., es como..., sirve para... rather than switching to English.

Pronunciation targets: pure vowels (a e i o u), rolled r versus tapped r, ll/y, ñ, and word stress with written accents.

Question forms to recognise and produce: ¿Qué...?, ¿Cuándo...?, ¿Por qué...?, ¿Cuánto...?, ¿Te gusta...?

Repair phrases keep fluency: Perdón, ¿puedes repetir? / ¿Cómo se dice... en español? / Un momento, por favor.

Silence is costly: use fillers (pues, bueno, es que...) to hold the turn while planning the next clause.